"Now, please welcome His Excellency Antonia to present the award to Mr. Roland, the Runes School's award winner!"
At the ceremony, magical Photographic Cameras flashed, their shutters clicking incessantly.
The two figures, one old and one young, approached each other, shook hands firmly, then turned toward the audience.
Thunderous applause filled the venue.
The moment seemed frozen in time, and this scene became the front-page photograph of every major media outlet.
Antonia presented Roland with an award certificate enclosed in a fine wooden frame, along with a check tucked inside an envelope.
The certificate had cost little to produce and served no particular purpose. It was purely a keepsake.
The check, however, was for a respectable sum: 15,000 gold coins (15 million copper yuan).
Even for Roland as he was now, that was enough to improve his living conditions and fund another experimental project or two.
Beyond those, however, there were other, more valuable rewards.
These included the right to vote and stand for election, various honors and forms of status, and spell quotas, which were crucial to an individual's strength.
An age of arcana, a nation of magic...
Spell quotas meant the ability to cast spells. They were one track of a two-track system, and a means of putting one's learning into practice!
Roland had already received his special quota for the seventh-level spell "Limited Wish," but only now was he granted his unrestricted quotas for levels zero through six, two per level, with no spells included.
The moment Roland accepted the award certificate-
``` Tower Spirit notification: Your unrestricted spell quotas for levels 0-6 have increased.
Current spell quotas: 6/5/4/4/2+1/2/2/0+1...
(Note: Figures after a + indicate special quotas for designated spells. Currently, there are two: "Dimension Door" and "Limited Wish.")
(Note 2: Some quotas may be freely transferred.)